MOSCOW, May 27 (Reuters) – Police detained dozens of
opposition protesters on Sunday at an Occupy-style rally against
President Vladimir Putin in central Moscow.
Activists gathered near Red Square in front of the Kremlin
and walked toward the popular Arbat pedestrian district, but
were detained upon reaching the sit-in protest which began
earlier this month.
Witnesses said riot police treated protesters who resisted
roughly. “One man in his 50s was grabbed and carried away by his
arms and legs. It was terrible,” said Natalia Pozdnyakova, 73,
dressed in white, the colour which has become the symbol of the
protests.
Police told Russian news agency Interfax 35 people had been
detained.
Earlier in the day, dozens of people were detained when
Russian Orthodox Church activists clashed with gay rights
protesters in central Moscow.
Though Russia’s protest movement began in response to
accusations of voting fraud in a parliamentary election last
year, Moscow protests have broadened the movement’s demands,
reflecting anger over a range of issues from human rights to
high-level corruption.
Putin’s return to the presidency on May 7 and a
demonstration marred by violence before his inauguration added
to resentment and sparked sit-in protests in the capital.
Putin’s top human rights adviser said on Sunday he would
look into the reasons why people who were wearing white ribbons
as a show of solidarity with the protest movement were being
detained.
“By itself, wearing a white ribbon, just like a ribbon of
any other colour or white clothes or wearing clothes of any
other colour, is not a violation of administrative law,” Mikhail
Fedotov told the Itar-Tass news agency.
“We have to understand on what grounds police are detaining
people.”
(Reporting by Steve Gutterman and Thomas Grove; Writing by
Thomas Grove; Editing by Pravin Char)
